A NEW train named in honour of Guildford will start to open up the whole country to the town's rail passengers.

Virgin's new Guildford Voyager train came into operation this week, along with three other new trains, on its CrossCountry network serving Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and other major cities across the country.

The chief executive of Virgin Trains', Chris Green, said: "Guildford has never been truly part of the national Intercity network and we intend to remedy this. Virgin's vision is to make Guildford a hub for a new hourly Intercity service to the Midlands and the North."

Virgin CrossCountry is the only train company offering a national train service and its new trains offer greater comfort, audio entertainment for every seat, an on-board shop and a club class coach.

Four trains have been introduced this week, which will grow to seven by September, and the service should be hourly by 2004 when work to improve track capacity between Guildford and Gatwick has been completed.

Virgin has pledged to replace the entire CrossCountry fleet at a cost of £1billion and the new trains are significantly faster than the old stock, cutting 20% off journey times.

The Mayor of Guildford, Jennifer Powell, welcomed the new trains and the new travel opportunities they will bring. "I have a feeling your trains will get a lot of use," she said.